We booked this 12 night cruise as a last minute deal, so really were not expecting too much. On our arrival at the Ocean terminal P&O staff quickly booked us in and we were on board ship by 1pm on Monday 1st December. As Baltic members of the Peninsular Club we were shown to the priority boarding lounge where drinks and a buffet were laid on. The service was very good and an excellent start to the cruise.
We noticed that a significant number of passengers were of retirement age and this is what we expected given the time of year and availability of annual leave for those who are employed.
We had booked a late saver and our cabin had been allocated on A deck Forward. We went to our cabin at around 2pm and I met our cabin steward. He was a very pleasant fellow and I knew we were going to get on well together. We had not been on Oceana since 2007 but she looked in good shape for her age. A contract company was on board busy beavering away putting up Christmas decorations. The regulation emergency drill was carried out and we sailed at 5pm.